Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Usually the "victim" has lost something like their life, money, their home, etc. With taxpayer funded bail outs aren't we the taxpayer the victim? The foreclosed party loses their home, the taxpayer loses money and the bankers have gained a boat load via TARP. Who's the "real" victim? Am I missing something here?

It would seem to me bankers have only one concern - keeping the money they have and earning as much off foreclosures as possible. They seem to have no interest in hiring (and paying for) qualified people. Why would they want to hire qualified people when you can use that as an excuse to further stall settlements with home owners and earn more off defaults.

Is there any way that BOA could possibly gain any more negative publicity? Robosigning, busted loan mods, illegal foreclosures. Oh yeah, let's discriminate against those who receive disability payments. Funny, before the housing collapse they accepted these types of payments with no questions asked.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Plaintiff BANK OF NEW YORK has failed to establish that MERS was the lawful holder or assignee of the Note with regard to the first alleged assignment. Therefore, plaintiff BANK OF NEW YORK is without standing to commence this action as "an assignment of the mortgage without assignment of the underlying not or bond is a nullity".

Friday, February 24, 2012

Is that because non-HAMP mods have a higher rate of default and BOA will be forced to repurchase them? If so, why would BOA provide mods they know aren't going to work out in the first place? Just asking.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Almost 4,000,000 homes have yet to go into foreclosure! Add that to the dreaded Shadow inventory and perhaps this could be the worst year yet. Or, if the Fed insists on developing these new programs that do nothing for the borrower but everything for the banker we could be in this for another 10 years.

The securitizations problems are going to make the robosigning fiasco seem like child's play. What happens when these trusts are deemed to be invalid and there now becomes a tax issue? Can't wait to see how that plays out. The monetary problem with this settlement is that the proposed $2,000 to borrowers is not going to do anything for them. The AG's here MUST push the criminal end as well. The bankers will never learn their lesson unless some jail time is involved. After all if you simply have to stick your hand in your pocket to pay for crimes committed and you're a millionaire a hundred times over where's the deterrent? However, if ones freedom is taken away . . . . . . . . .

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The sickening part about this is that it won't deter the banks from continuing the behavior that got us into this mess. It is simply too profitable to conduct business any other way. And again, at $2,000 per home owner it's easy to see who's getting the short end of the stick.

This was a mess before Baum closed his office. Now it's going to be nightmare! This will certainly take a looooong time to clean up. If you're in foreclosure and have questions or aren't sure how this will affect your case please contact us.

Actually this is a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, since the bankers are in bed with the Fed it's unlikely this will see the light of day. Now, if there were restrictions on when lenders can sell their loans - effectively locking in the originating lenders for a certain period of time, that would have them think twice on who they approve for a loan. But then the bankers will say the "lock-in" is "unfair". The "lock-in" - isn't that exactly what the bankers do when they impose pre-payment penalties on borrowers? Hmmmmm. . . . . . . . .

Banks have been dragging their feet on this just as they've done on loan modifications. The short sale process as it stands now makes absolutely no sense. The main reason for all the delays? Same reason for the loan mod delays - servicers. Servicers make more money when a loan is in default. It's that simple. The big joke here is the "fine" for non-compliance - $1,000 plus reasonable attorney fees. Banks are announcing record profits.Do you think a $1,000 fine is going to change their way of thinking?

Thursday, February 16, 2012

One in every 624 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in January, up 3 percent from the previous month, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity froze in many states in 2011, due to processing delays after fraud, or so-called "Robo-signing," were uncovered in the fall of 2010.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A new court initiative will allow all New York homeowners facing foreclosure to obtain legal representation and streamline the process of settling mortgage disputes out of court, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said Tuesday during his annual State of the Judiciary speech.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Politicians usually have a lot to say no matter what the subject. After all, it's part of their job. So in a world where our elected officials are unusually quiet when it comes to the foreclosure/financial crisis (read meltdown) Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has chosen to take action while other elected officials have refused to help their suffering constituents. Brooklyn has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state. Yet local officials for the most part have chosen to turn a blind eye to those vicitumized by predatory lending, illegal foreclosures, tortuous loan modification attempts and lenders who refuse to help home owners under any circumstance. We applaud Assemblyman Ortiz for sponsoring this foreclosure workshop. A special thank you also goes out to Reverend Nestor Osorio of the Emmanuel Pentecostal Church for hosting the event. We look forward to working with Assemblyman Ortiz's office in the very near future to conduct another workshop.

In cases of default and/or foreclosure home owners need to pay special attention to any pay off or reinstatement figures that the bank provides. A close look at the figures will usually reveal overcharges and bogus fees. One needs to remember that services are paid much more when a loan is in default than when the borrower is making timely payments. Scrutinize every charge when viewing these statements. In many cases the servicer will be unable to explain what the questionable charge is when pressed for an answer.

The bottom line here is once again the banks are being bailed out on the backs of the taxpayers. To add insult to injury the taxpayers that had the foresight to save for their retirement will now get pounded by losses incurred by their pension, IRA's and 401-k plans.

You should never pay up front for a loan modification. On the same note you should be just as cautious when you go to your lender for help and you're told they cannot help you unless you are behind on your loan or in foreclosure. That simply is NOT true. You must show you're in imminent danger of default (job loss, death of wager earner, divorce, illness, etc.)If you choose to work directly with your lender for a loan modification take note that for the most part your lender is NOT interested in helping you. I believe as soon as most borrowers understand that they're better off. Here are a few tips to help you along:1).Get a notebook and document every time contact is made with the lender. That includes phone calls. letters, faxes, etc. When speaking with the lender always get the name, ID number/Ext number of the person as well as their department. 2). Call your lender weekly to see what updates there are on the account. 3). After sending any documents always call them the next day to verify they were received (banks are notorious for losing documents). 4). When sending in a loan modification package be sure all paperwork has your loan number on it, all documents requiring a signature are signed especially tax returns. 5). At the begininng of every month fax current bank statements and pay stubs.

Hope these tips help. If you feel you need help please call your local housing counselor or legal services.

If this settlement agreement is such a good deal for both the states that have chosen to sign on the dotted line and the multitude of home owners in foreclosure (not to mention those who are drowning in negative equity) why are both the Fed and HUD pushing so hard? If it really is a great deal the AGs will sign on their own without the pressure.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Complaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings.

We had a feeling the AG was working on something big. Now in addition to hammering these banks he can put some more pressure on them by getting MERS to pay all of the unpaid recording fees they owe. We are VERY happy to see this! As I've said before we in New York are EXTREMELY lucky to have Mr. Schneiderman as our AG.

The reason there's no help for the home owners is that it isn't good for the bottom line of the GSE's or their shareholders. All of the fraud we've seen (and we've seen plenty considering we do our own internal audits)the one thing we're still not seeing is prison time for those involved. Seems if you steal a little you go directly to jail. If you steal massive amounts of money, crushing the country financially and illegally foreclosing on homes you get a free pass. We're in deep trouble here folks!

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